


It Runs in the Family

by ThePraxianWeasleyGeek



Series: Christmas giftfics 2018 [4]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Happy Ending, Kidfic, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 15:52:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17327978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePraxianWeasleyGeek/pseuds/ThePraxianWeasleyGeek
Summary: ... Well,zoomsmight be more accurate.





	It Runs in the Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BionicJaden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BionicJaden/gifts).



> Fourth of the (horribly late) giftfics! Was asked for cygate as parents for this one, and I was MORE than happy to oblige. :) Happy holidays, Jaden!

 

The strange thing was, Cyclonus already had a house on New Cybertron. 

 

It had been horribly run-down when they got here, having stood empty for so very long - but still it stood, because for at least the first couple of million years after his disappearance into the Dead Universe, Cyclonus’ home had been maintained as a monument, in honour of the great warrior now presumed dead. 

 

Information creep had eventually taken its toll, of course, and the house had increasingly been neglected and slowly fallen apart. By the time Cyclonus and Tailgate of Old Cybertron discovered its existence, it was barely a house at all, just a few walls and a bit of roof… but, crucially, it  _ was _ . 

 

Cyclonus had stood silently in the doorway for several minutes, not speaking, and Tailgate, knowingly, left him to it. 

 

They rebuilt. Decorated, with various mementoes picked up on their travels. Discovered that some of the investments Cyclonus had made before embarking on the Ark-1 still held sway, here. Made plans. 

 

After the funeral, and once his sentence was served, Whirl came to join them. And not long after that, their household received a new, almost surprising addition. 

 

_ Almost _ surprising. It's not like she wasn't part of the plans, after all. 

 

“ _ ‘Gate! _ ”

 

A ball of hyperactivity barreled into Tailgate, where he’d been drifting to sleep on the couch. Laughing, he tackled the sparkling into submission and tucked her up to sit beside him. She immediately plonked a large, flat, rectangular box down on his lap; the datapad that had been balanced on the lid was jolted, and fell to the floor with a clatter. 

 

Clearly, one of the two ranked far higher in her estimation. 

 

“‘Gate, the post came!”

 

“From Whirl?”

 

“Yeah! It has his name, and a note, and I read it all by myself!” She swelled with pride as she spoke. 

 

“Oh, Ellie, that's brilliant! Did you want to read it out for me?”

 

“Um.” Elpis bit her lip. 

 

“Um what, sweetspark?”

 

“There's some bad words in it.” 

 

“I'd expect nothing less, coming from Whirl.” 

 

That was Cyclonus, wandering in from outdoors. (He liked to practice his lyrical patriotism under the sun, where he could see the planet stretching out around him, and to hell with what the neighbours thought at this point). 

 

The jet reached a hand over the back of the couch to lay it gently on his daughter's head. “If you promise not to repeat any of them in polite conversation, we'll say no more about it.”

 

“Okay!”

 

“Hm.” Tailgate eyed Elpis shrewdly. “You don't know what ‘polite conversation’ means, do you?”

 

“People who aren't Whirl?”

 

Cyclonus tried and failed to hide a snort of mirth. 

 

“Well,” began Tailgate, “you're not  _ wrong _ , but… um…”

 

Apparently bored with these pleasantries, Elpis grabbed the parcel back off of Tailgate's lap. “Can I open my present now?!”

 

“If you insist, I suppose,” said Cyclonus, smiling as he folded his arms. She stuck her tongue out at him, and he raised an eyebrow in response. 

 

That was all the regard he received - the next moment, the lid of the box was off and Elpis was withdrawing something that made Tailgate’s visor brighten with pleasant surprise… and Cyclonus’ optics widen in horror. 

 

“Oh,  _ no _ ”- 

 

“YES!” Elpis shrieked, hoisting the gift over her head. “A hoverboard! Whirl's the  _ bestest _ !”

 

“Courtesy of Brainstorm,” Tailgate read out, picking up the letter that had landed on the ground. “He says hello, and also when are we going to visit too, and more importantly, commission him for something actually interesti - oh! Ellie, love, that's upside-down.” 

 

Cyclonus’ helm snapped up at those words - as both mechs realised their sparkling had already slipped off the couch, and was sat on the floor, struggling to get her new toy to work. Tailgate seemed content to hang back and observe, but his conjunx was across the room within the next split-second, when Elpis tilted the board to angle the engine at her face. 

 

“Elpis, don't”- 

 

Pointedly, she shuffled herself further away, and Cyclonus was left hovering with an awkward expression and hands halfway to outstretched. 

 

“It’s fine,” Tailgate assured him. “She won't hurt herself.” 

 

When all that received was an incredulous stare, the minibot dug in the bottom of the box and held up a remote. 

 

“All in the letter,” he said, visor narrowing into a smile. “That's why Brainstorm was so bored - if there's one thing Whirl cares about more than causing chaos, it's Ellie. He asked for a failsafe.” 

 

Cyclonus nodded. “I'm sorry. I simply worried”- 

 

“Now there's a surprise.” Tailgate's tone was fond. 

 

It certainly  _ was _ a surprise to anyone who didn’t know them well, that out of the two of them, it was the grim, brooding, ancient warrior whose spark tended to tie up in knots at the smallest suggestion of harm to his child. But Tailgate had been the one to carry Elpis - and though there was no way to verify it, he always claimed that having her spark nestled next to his for so long had had a bit of a calming effect. He’d been tied body and soul to the little bud of life who was now asserting her free will all over the place; or, to put it another way, he’d been forewarned. Cyclonus hadn’t really known what to expect. 

 

When the jet wasn’t so busy fretting, Tailgate knew that was one of the things he loved most about their sparkling. 

 

Still smiling, the minibot passed the remote over to his conjunx, who promptly sat down beside Elpis and started trying to make the board work in earnest, while Tailgate finished perusing the letter. 

 

“Have you come across the ‘bad words’ yet?” 

 

“Mm, a few,” Tailgate replied. “Or a few dozen. He sends his love to Ellie - well, he doesn’t exactly  _ say _ it, you know him, but that’s what he means - and he’s also asking -  _ uh _ .” 

 

Cyclonus turned to eye, with some concern, his suddenly pink-faced conjunx. Refusing to meet his gaze, Tailgate set the datapad down gingerly and triple-checked that he’d deactivated it before standing up from the couch. 

 

“Ellie,” he said carefully, “Did you say you read...  _ all _ of the letter?” 

 

Elpis looked abashed. 

 

“No-oo,” she said, squirming her shoulders. “I stopped when Whirl said the box was for me ‘cause I wanted to open it.” Wide-eyed, she looked up at Cyclonus. “I’m sorry for lying.” 

 

“You’re quite forgiven.” 

 

Gently, Cyclonus prised the hoverboard from her arms, set it on the floor, and pressed a button on the controls. It rose to about the height of Tailgate’s waist and froze in place; Elpis leapt to her feet and flung herself towards it with such force that Cyclonus had to scoop her up in one arm. 

 

“There’s no point just jumping on it,” Tailgate laughed - still looking a little flustered as he wandered over to join them. “If you don’t get balanced, you’ll fall off again.” 

 

“Trust him,” said Cyclonus, perfectly straight-faced. “He’s talking from experience.” 

 

Tailgate levelled him with a mock glare, but was quickly distracted by Elpis’ gasp of awe. 

 

“You had a hoverboard?!” 

 

“Yep! We’ve still got it here somewhere, I think.” 

 

Tailgate hoisted Elpis up into his arms and sat her on the board, wincing a little as he straightened up - and thinking, not for the first time, that the super speed and strength would  have been more useful if they’d arrived after he and Cyclonus decided to become parents. It was increasingly evident that Elpis would outstrip him in height long before she was fully grown. 

 

“Alright, you’re all set. Cyclonus, you do the honours.” 

 

Elpis screamed with delight as she shot off across the living room, zipping around the furniture at her sire’s careful discretion. 

 

The look on Cyclonus’ face when he realised she was adding jet-engine sound effects was utterly priceless. 

 

* * *

 

Much, much later, Elpis had finally tired herself out, and been duly bundled off into recharge. The end of the evening once again saw Cyclonus and Tailgate half-asleep on the couch, Cyclonus with his head in his conjunx’s lap as he read, while Tailgate aimlessly browsed through channels for something to watch. 

 

“... Tailgate.” 

 

“Mm?” 

 

“What did Whirl say that you were so worried about Elpis reading?”

 

“Oh, that. He told us to look after Ellie while he’s away, and said we’d better take advantage of him  _ being _ away to get to work making another one.”

 

Tailgate glanced down to meet Cyclonus’ slightly startled - yet nevertheless resigned - gaze. 

 

“I suppose that’s all we are to him, now.”

 

“What, his own personal hotspot?” asked Tailgate cheerfully. “Probably. But consider: _ we  _ get a built-in babysitter, who has even bigger energy reserves than an actual sparkling.” 

 

“And comes with a guarantee to lead Elpis astray.” Cyclonus smiled. “Yes, I think that’s a fair exchange.” 

 

His conjunx giggled, bringing a servo up to rub at the base of one of his horns, and Cyclonus closed his eyes to enjoy the sensation. 

 

When he opened them again, Tailgate was looking pensive. 

 

“... It might be nice, though,” he said, a wistful glint to his visor - before he seemed to check himself, blinking several times. “I mean. Ellie’s getting so big, and that’s as exciting as it is scary, but I… I already miss when she was tiny.” 

 

He glanced down at Cyclonus, a smile suddenly blooming on his face. 

 

“And  _ you _ could do with having something tiny around to take care of, so you don’t have a spark attack every time Ellie decides to cause chaos.” 

 

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Cyclonus strove to keep his expression stern; an effort that was ruined entirely when Tailgate snorted and bent down to touch their forehelms together. 

 

* * *

 

Upon Whirl’s return home, his smug crow of triumph when he learned Cyclonus was carrying received even more neighbourly complaints than the singing. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> (ETA: 500th fic in the cygate tag!!!)
> 
> Also, for anyone who's never come across the name Elpis before - google it and you will discover just how much of a sap I am. :D


End file.
